THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 15, 1994 TAG: 9412150101
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SARAH MISKIN
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
Sarah Miskin is a Fulbright Professional Exchange Scholar from New Zealand working as a reporter for The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star. She is writing occasional stories detailing her experiences in America. In today's installment, Sarah tells us about the differences between television commercials in New Zealand and the United States.
WHILE EATING dinner recently, I finally realized that America is a truly strange country.
I will confess at this point to eating in front of the television, a local custom that has been all to easy to fall into and something I wouldn't do at home.
Worse than this, however, is the nasty habit I have adopted of watching the television advertisements. Some of these are so bizarre that I can't help but see the United States as a little odd.
Right in front of my eyes, a bouncy thirtysomething brunette sprang in to view to talk about sales, specifically getting her husband to go to sales.
She then proceeded to advertise ammunition: ``Winchester: it's what America shoots.''
I almost dropped my plate. An advertisement for weapons on prime time television was more than I could comprehend.
At home, the advertisement would probably be for sheep dip, which kills lice and other pests in sheep. Or clothes, or food, or bed linen or anything but ammunition.
Only recently did New Zealand law change to allow liquor advertisements to be shown on television, and these can be screened only after 10 p.m. (This coincided with a change allowing supermarkets to sell wine, but not fortified wine, spirits or beer.)
Like America, we do not allow cigarette or tobacco product advertising on television. Some of the biggest ethical controversies in recent years have been over alcohol and tobacco company sponsorship of sports events. Should we or shouldn't we televise the sponsors name?
While surfing the multitude of TV channels available here (New Zealand has three national and three cable channels), I have seen a huge range of advertisements for everything from food and alcohol to medicines and ``feminine hygiene products.''
Some of these advertisements are brutal in their criticism of opposing products. Again until recently, the practice of dragging the opposition through the mud was not accepted in New Zealand. Although it is now legal, it is not a form of advertising that comes easily to New Zealanders, unlike Americans it seems.
I am particularly bemused by the ads for headache and pain relievers. The repeated mention of the opposing brand name could well result in that name becoming stuck in the minds of consumers.
At home, a consumer affairs program has an annual special on the best and worst television ads.
A few years ago, New Zealanders overwhelmingly said the best advertisement was one in which a cat chased a cockatoo around a living room, knocking a vase of flowers into the back of a television. Nobody, however, could remember what product was being sold. (Insurance to replace the ruined television.)
The worst advertisement was an Australian pushing a brand of tires in which he said, ``Gidday, I'm Vince Martin and I'm here to tell you . . . '' The Australian accent drove us crazy, but at least we remembered what he was selling - the ultimate sign of a successful advertisement.
Now our favorite advertisement is an on-going saga about a teenage girl trying to get her divorced parents back together. The campaign is trying to sell Anchor dairy products (milk, butter, cheese), but no one cares that the advertisements do not focus on the products.
An installment in which the girl was injured in a car accident had us on the edge of our seats, and the advertising agency two years ago ran a competition to answer the question, ``What do you want to see happen to the Anchor family?''
Here, I like several advertisements, particularly the one in which the car climbs the rock wall blocking the gateway. (New Zealanders seem to like car advertisements. At home, the Toyota theme song, sung by a local country singer, topped the record charts for several weeks.)
I dislike too many advertisements to mention, but the most irritating are those that show all men, women and children as beautiful, svelte and squeaky clean.
The solution, of course, is in my own hands. I could always just turn the television off. by CNB